The Camp Lejeune Environmental Management Division has started lighting prescribed burns on forestry parts of the base and plans to do so for the next eight months.

Chuck Beckley/The Daily News

By AMANDA WILCOX - Daily News Staff

Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

The Camp Lejeune Environmental Management Division has started lighting prescribed burns on forestry parts of the base and plans to do so for the next eight months.

The controlled burning is a tool used by forest managers both on- and off-base to help maintain open, clear habitats for endangered species and reduce the possibility of an uncontrolled wildfire occurring during the warmer months.

Kyle Avesing, a fire management specialist with CampLejeune’s Environmental Management Division, said the prescribed burns aboard CampLejeuneare mostly beneficial to the base’s endangered species like the Venus fly trap, rough-leaf loosestrife plant and the red-cockaded woodpecker.

"We’re burning for (the endangered species), along with many other different reasons, but this is definitely a lot for the red-cockaded woodpecker," Avesing said. "It keeps the forest open so it maintains the habitat that they prefer and encourages them to stay (on Camp Lejeune.)

Avesing said residents both on- and off-base can expect to see smoke from the prescribed burns until August, with a short time period in April and May when the burns will stop because the risk of wildfire is greater.

"They can expect to see smoke during the day," Avesing said. "We do our best to make sure that everything’s burnt out so the smoke is gone by the dusk gets here, but there is sometimes some residual smoke from logs burnings and things like that."

Avesing added that residents throughout Jacksonvilleshouldn’t be alarmed if they see or smell smoke in the air anytime during the next eight months.

The Camp Lejeune Environmental Management Division has started lighting prescribed burns on forestry parts of the base and plans to do so for the next eight months.

The controlled burning is a tool used by forest managers both on- and off-base to help maintain open, clear habitats for endangered species and reduce the possibility of an uncontrolled wildfire occurring during the warmer months.

Kyle Avesing, a fire management specialist with CampLejeune’s Environmental Management Division, said the prescribed burns aboard CampLejeuneare mostly beneficial to the base’s endangered species like the Venus fly trap, rough-leaf loosestrife plant and the red-cockaded woodpecker.

"We’re burning for (the endangered species), along with many other different reasons, but this is definitely a lot for the red-cockaded woodpecker," Avesing said. "It keeps the forest open so it maintains the habitat that they prefer and encourages them to stay (on Camp Lejeune.)

Avesing said residents both on- and off-base can expect to see smoke from the prescribed burns until August, with a short time period in April and May when the burns will stop because the risk of wildfire is greater.

"They can expect to see smoke during the day," Avesing said. "We do our best to make sure that everything’s burnt out so the smoke is gone by the dusk gets here, but there is sometimes some residual smoke from logs burnings and things like that."

Avesing added that residents throughout Jacksonvilleshouldn’t be alarmed if they see or smell smoke in the air anytime during the next eight months.

"It’s just us doing our thing," he said.

Contact Daily News Military Reporter Amanda Wilcox at 910-219-8453 or amanda.wilcox@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AWilcox21.